Last week in Muncie I had a fly-away with a new old-fashioned mechanical F1A.  The hook didn't unlatch so the timer didn't start.  The model and 50 meters of Kevlar towline went OOS.  Tracking with the Walston unit soon indicated that it would not land on the field so we started following the signal in a car.  The changes in signal strength gave evidence of the model flying in fairly tight circles as it was still in the circle-tow mode with maximum rudder deflection.  Altitude indications were not particularly evident.  The chase continued for about an hour in light westerly winds.  The strongest signal was always ahead of us and slightly to the south as we followed the country roads to the east.   I then thought it might be a good idea to try and get ahead of the model and see if we could get a signal coming from the west.   However, after a quick 5-mile (less than 10 minutes) venture to the east, there was no signal from any direction when we got out of the car.  It seemed that the model should be behind us from consideration of what should have been a reasonable rate of descent, but no signal was to be had upon backtracking.  We were about 20 miles out from the Muncie AMA site.  I went back to Muncie to give my helper, Ron Smith, a break and then started a radio search in the general area for about one hour with no signal.  Could it be further away than I thought?

 

The next morning I hired an aircraft and Steve Reese from the Reese Airport adjacent to the Muncie site to do an air search with the Walston.  We flew to Ohio, about 5 miles from my previous search area and got no signal. 

 

At that time, I was determined to set out on a patterned ground search over a grid of about 4 miles by 10 miles.   I drove to a likely starting point from the landmarks of the previous day and lashed the Yagi to my roof rack.   Wouldn't you know, the signal was strong and clear after I drove about 100 yards!  The model was on the ground (as I had expected from the loss of signal the previous day) and was undamaged.

 

The reason I am writing about this adventure is because of uncertainties I have about using the radio in the air.   Previous experiences with Mr Reese had found one airplane, but the signal was not particularly strong until we were pretty much right over the field in which it was laying, transmitter antenna next to the ground on the tailboom. A second search on a no-DT F1A flight gave no signal after traveling out about 25 miles.  However, on that same flight I did get a signal from a second transmitter in a Mulvihill model that was in a tree located in wild area close to Muncie .  I hadn't yet spotted that model, but was reasonably confident of its proximate location.  Again, that signal was not apparent from the air until we were fairly close to the Mulvihill model.  The air search for the F1A that was found last week passed within one to one-half mile of the model.  The transmitter antenna on the tailboom was not flat on the ground, but at an angle of 30-40 degrees.  I used the Walston receiver antenna.

 

It has been stated that the range of the signal should be several miles if the transmitter is on the ground and the receiver is in the air.  However, I do not recall anyone reporting confirmation of that expectation.  I would like to know of similar experiences:  What kind of aircraft was used for the search? (Reese's was all metal clad, low wing).  What kind of receiver antenna is best ? (yagi or non-directional).  Is this air seach thing a myth?

 

Chuck Markos